“As the 32 national team managers evaluate players consider injuries and plot strategy ahead of the 2010 World Cup, millions of soccer fans around the world are completing their own plans for the qaudrennial tournament. Most will watch on TV (some in 3-D). Still, organizers expect as many as 450,000 fans to travel to South Africa and join almost a million vuvuzelas-blowing local fans attending the tournament.” (NYT)
“Wall charts are a World Cup tradition. I’ve had one either pinned, Blu-Tacked or taped to a wall (and one time attached to a fridge with magnets) for every tournament I can remember. They’re useful for two things…” (World Cup Blog)
The Hell, Coppo di Marcovaldo
“It has become a sign of spring: as swallows crowd the sky over Madrid, Real is eliminated at the knock-out stage of the European Champions League. Yet again, the richest club in the world has spent obscene amounts of money with the sole intention of winning the most important club competition in the world, but on March 10, they were knocked out from the last 16 for the sixth year in a row (in 2003, they were eliminated from the last eight).” (The New Republic)
“With just under 100 days to go until Brazil’s 2010 World Cup gets under way against North Korea, coach Dunga stomped away from Emirates Stadium in London aware that, for at least half of it, that time will be dominated by appeals for the recall of Ronaldinho.” (World Soccer – Tim Vickery)
Chile 2-0 Italy, World Cup first round, 1962.
“Chile was recovering from an earthquake that had killed nearly 6,000 people, and didn’t have much money in the first place, so its countryfolk weren’t particularly disposed to tolerate the two Italian journalists who swanned into Santiago ahead of the World Cup finals, sifted through the wreckage, and sent home dispatches painting a picture of Chile’s capital as a poverty-stricken hole full of loose women.” (Guardian)
“For many people, major sports tournaments are the only occasion that national anthems are heard. These peculiar tunes have become a genre of their own, transcending the mere hymns that many of them were in first place, and they range from the gloriously uplifting to mournful dirges. The selection of words has, in many countries, brought about national debate that has been all-encompassing. In the case of Spain, it was decided that it would probably be for the best just to not bother having any for the sake of national unity.” (twohundredpercent)
World Cup 2010 National Anthems: South Africa, France, Mexico, Uruguay
“Seems like the most popular part of our World Cup 2010 preview podcast was the national anthems segment. I would agree, in that any segment where we’re not talking is instantly preferable to the segments where we are. But since those podcasts contain only 10-15 second lyric-less samples, I thought it was worth expanding the idea into a full series of posts about national anthems.” (World Cup Blog)
“Spain’s last game before they name their final squad in June could be summed up in a single word. The same word that could also be used to sum up their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup. The same word could be used again for their Euro 2008 campaign.” (World Soccer)
“It’s elementary sports psychology: To produce their best in the biggest moments, athletes are advised to recall peak performances from the past. But as Bordeaux prepares to face Olympiakos for a place in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals tonight, Laurent Blanc, coach of the French club that’s been the surprise of this year’s tournament, will focus his team’s attention not on the six European matches it’s won this season, but the only one it didn’t.” (WSJ)
Mid-Week Review Show: EPL Talk Podcast
“Looking back on the mid-week action for Premier League sides in Champions League, Europa, and within the Premiership, analysts Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer join host Richard Farley on this version of the EPL Talk podcast.” (EPL Talk)
Match Of The Midweek: Chelsea 0-1 Internazionale
“How would you feel if you were Roman Abramovich after this evening’s Champions League match between Chelsea and Inter? When he disposed of Jose Mourinho just over three years ago, it was reportedly a show of player power the likes of which the English game had seldom seen before.” (twohundredpercent)
Different Routes Yield Same Result
“One of the joys of sports is that they confound just about any theory that attempts to explain them. When Real Madrid was eliminated from the Champions League last week, and Manchester United produced one of the biggest victories in its history, it was reasonable to conclude that stability counted for something.” (NYT)
Italian press celebrate Inter’s victory over Chelsea
“Having held a grim-faced silenzio stampa (press silence) for the past week, Jose Mourinho’s relationship with the Italian media had reached a new low on the eve of Inter’s Champions League return leg against Chelsea. A touchline ban, a pitiful display against Catania and ongoing grief with Mario Balotelli had formed a simmering backdrop to the game, with the Nerazzurri lumbered with the added burden of being Italy’s sole survivors in the competition.” (WSC)
Chelsea vs. Inter Milan
(footytube)
“”The fox is wounded,” yelped Gazzetta dello Sport, and they weren’t talking about Goldenballs. David Beckham’s ruptured achilles represents a cruel blow for the player and perhaps also for England (then again, perhaps not) – but on a weekend like this it was never going to get top billing in Italy. As if a Ferrari one-two in the first grand prix of the season wasn’t enough to be getting on with, this was the weekend when the Serie A title race got blown wide open.” (Guardian)
“Italian coaches will be everywhere at the Bridge. The Impossible Job has become the Italian Job. Marcello Lippi has won the World Cup while Giovanni Trapattoni wins friends with the Republic of Ireland. Zola, though, is under pressure. Widely considered one of the nicest men in an often heartless profession, the Sardinian who made the ball smile as an elegant maestro with Napoli, Parma and Chelsea, among others, now battles to keep West Ham United in the Premier League.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
Marcello Lippi
“At the start of the season, looking forward to the World Cup finals in June, Italy coach Marcello Lippi said he was ready for any number of tormentoni (literally, pest or nuisance) on the run-in to South Africa. The tormentoni in question, let’s be clear, do not concern player injuries, match schedules or training facilities. No, these torments are media and fan inspired and take the form of pretty forthright “advice” as to who he should take to the finals this summer. In particular, Lippi was bombarded with suggestions for his attack.” (World Soccer)
“Rehearsals are not everyone’s cup of tea. The Germans and Italians, for example, seldom show up in body and soul for them. Yet this is World Cup year, and on Wednesday their people paid top dollar to see those nationals teams, and others, go through the motions. It didn’t always have the desired effect. More than 60,000 people in Algiers saw their heroes, who are going to the World Cup, succumb, 3-0, to Serbia, which is also playing in the finals.” (NYT)
Mario Kempes
“Since the dawn of time man has wrestled with this impossible conundrum. And following the glorious football that has generally been on display in Euro 2008 a lot of people are wondering where it stands in the pantheon of great tournaments. Coupled with this excellent Guardian blog and some terrific contributions from posters, it’s got us here at MD Towers thinking. Is it possible to assess which are the best and worst major tournaments? The simple answer is no. So here goes.” (midfielddynamo)
“Fabio Capello (born 18 June 1946) is an Italian football manager and former professional player. He is the current manager of the England national team, having started the role in January 2008 after the dismissal of Steve McClaren, who was sacked after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. He is the second foreigner to have managed the England side, the other being McClaren’s predecessor, the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson.” Wikipedia, Guardian
“Watching European football has always had an exotic element for us in Britain. In the 60s and 70s, abroad was a long way away. The world seemed much bigger and the visit of a team from Italy, Germany or Albania was like a visit from another football planet. We hadn’t heard of most of the players, we didn’t know much about the teams. How could we? They were not on TV and rarely covered in the press. Our only exposure to non-British players was at World Cups and on European nights. Hardly any played in the UK.” (EPL Talk)
“Long-distance goals should intrinsically have a reduced element of surprise, but tell that to Ronaldinho. Just because you are outside the box doesn’t mean you can’t think outside the box in the way that you shoot for goal. Ronaldinho’s incomparable imagination manifested itself in under-the-wall free-kicks and strikes with scarcely any backlift.” (Guardian)
“James is back with another top-banana podcast featuring John Ashdown, Barry Glendenning and Paul Doyle. Midweek Premier League matches mean plenty of talking points: including Louis Saha increasing John Terry’s woe, Arsenal back to winning ways, and Aston Villa’s limited ambition against Manchester United. Sid Lowe is on the phone from Madrid with the truth about those Cesc Fábregas to Barcelona rumours, while James’s Italian round-up includes news of Ultras storming Lazio’s training ground.” (Guardian – James Richardson)
“This week’s Video of The Week continues the World Cup theme of the last few weeks, with all the goals from the 1998 World Cup, which was, of course, held in France. The optimism that may have existed after England’s decent performance at the 1996 European Championships evaporated over the weeks of the tournament. Tabloid exclusives about the behaviour of the players, rioting in Marseille and a defeat at the hands of Romania were just the build up to a penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of Argentina. Meanwhile, France and Brazil made the final of a tournament that was the first to feature thirty-two nations. Iran beat the United States of America in the first round but both teams went out,but Jamaica and Japan, who were both arguably beneficiaries of the expansion, brought colour to the tournament off the pitch but offered little resistance on it.” (twohundredpercent)
“If ever anyone had any doubts about the current domination of Internazionale in Serie A, they were definitively dispelled by their emphatic 2-0 win over Milan in a thrilling city derby at the end of January. For much of this season, Inter have looked as if they will soon run far and away with another scudetto and, after this latest triumph, their escape to final victory has already begun.” (World Soccer)
“Another eventful week in Italian football, both on and off the pitch. Following the possibly season-defining Milan derby, both Milan teams faced midweek Coppa Italia quarterfinals at San Siro. Milan were humiliated by Udinese in a 1-0 loss, while Inter bounced back from a Francesco Toldo error to defeat Juventus 2-1, courtesy of goals by Lucio and Juve-killer Mario Balotelli. Juventus’ exit from the Coppa was the last game in charge for Ciro Ferrara, who was replaced by former Udinese, Milan, Inter and Torino manager Alberto Zaccheroni, after Juventus’ public courting of Guus Hiddink and Rafael Benitez proved fruitless.” (First Touch Online)
“Continuing our series of World Cup compilation videos, this week we have every goal from the 1990 World Cup, which was, of course, held in Italy. Time has a tendency to soften our viewpoint of previous World Cup tournaments – particularly when, as with this one, England surpass everyone’s expectations and scramble as far as the semi-finals – but the truth of the matter is that the 1990 World Cup finals were probably the worst that have been held in recent years.” (twohundredpercent)
Scissors Kick 